It's a Matter of Perspective
by Pksmiley
Summary: 'Wonderful,' was definitely not the word Snape would use. 'Obnoxious little brat.' Now that phrase could be applied almost indefinitely. Snape could almost taste the torture teaching potions to the boy would be.
1. Chapter 1

**A Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Or 'The Whacky Adventures of Severus and His Dog Winnie'**

Severus Snape entered the headmaster's office with the customary billowing of his cloak and sneer in place.  
'Seveus!' the man with infernal twinkling eyes exclaimed. 'I have good news.'  
Snape fought the urge to roll his eyes. This so called 'good news' was probably the finding of a new supplier of lemon drops.  
'Lord Voldemort has been vanquished.'  
Snape opened his mouth to retort scathingly, but the words never quite reached his mouth as he gaped at the beaming wizened wizard before him. Snape shut his mouth with a sharp clack of teeth on teeth and sought to find his bearings.  
'Yes,' the fool continued, utterly oblivious to the reaction his words had just caused. 'The prophecy was fulfilled, Severus old boy. By Jeremy Potter no less.'  
Snape didn't bother to shut his mouth. The man was obviously senile.  
'Yes, yes, there'll be here in a minute,' Dumbledore said, absently fiddling with one of many silver contraptions as he glanced towards the open fireplace.  
As if his words had been a signalthe flickering orange flames flashed green and the figure of Lily Potter appeared, clutching a black haired, green eyed boy to her breast, followed closely by the 'arrogant prick,' James Potter, also holding a small child. This one had flaming red hair and hazel eyes, and was the complete opposite of the quiet boy held by Lily as he proceeded to bawl his eyes out.  
Snape's lip curled in disgust and he turned his attention back to Dumbledore, who's eyes were twinkling at an inhuman pace.  
'Welcome,' he began jovially, standing to greet the Potters and ushering them into comfortable leather armchairs he'd just conjured. 'I was just telling Severus here of Jeremy's remarkable achievement.'  
He motioned towards the red haired boy and Snape did a double take. Surely he was not serious. How exactly the ginger crybaby could have defeated Lord Voldemort was beyond even the wildest imaginations. Looking at them closely Snape noted that each had a particularly prominant scar in the vicinity of their forehead. The green eyed boy's was in the shape of a lightning bolt, just over his left eyebrow, while Jeremy's was a ragged gash that ran past his right eye and tapered off just over his cheek bone. It looked more as though someone had run a piece of broken glass across his face than the mark of the most powerful dark curse ever created, as Dumbledore was now telling a barely listening Snape. The other boy's scar though reeked of dark magic, it was drowning in it, it seemed to cling in a dark cloud over the ugly lightning bolt scar.  
'… And so Jeremy Potter is The-Boy-Who-Lived.'  
'What!' Snape shouted before he could stop himself.  
Dumbledore quickly adopted an expression of polite bemusement. 'Yes, Severus?'  
'You can't be serious.'  
'Serious, Severus? About what?' Albus was now looking suitably puzzled.  
That Jeremy Potter defeated the Dark Lord,' Snape said slowly, drawing out each word. 'On what evidence do you base this claim?'  
Dumbledore looked startled. 'Why Severus, surely the evidence is incontrovertible.'  
Severus raised an eyebrow. 'Pray tell me,' he drawled. 'How exactly is this evidence so, how did you say it, incontrovertible?'  
Dumbledore waved a hand absently in dismissal. 'Now, now Severus. Now is really not the time to delve into the wherefores and howsos. No …' He trailed off, looking at Jeremy with a fond expression.  
Snape could only gape. The so called 'greatest wizard of the age' was making decisions based on mere speculation. 'But surely,' he tried. 'There must be some indication.'  
'All the signs point to Jeremy,' Albus said with finality.  
Snape tried one last time. 'But,' he said hesitantly. 'Isn't there a chance, a small chance, that you may be wrong.'  
Dumbledore looked at him incredulously. 'Wrong? Severus, this is the greatest day in Wizarding history. Of course I'm not wrong.'  
Snape bowed his head in defeat. This was going to come back to bite them, if his name wasn't Severus Snape.


	2. Chapter 2

**A Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

Years passed quickly, almost effortlessly, and Snape watched. Every now and then he'd catch a glimpse of the Potters, and every sighting made him angrier.

Jeremy Potter was well on his way to an arrogance befitting _his station. _He and James Potter would strut pompously down Diagon Alley, the very image of misplaced importance.

The other Potter boy was never seen in public. It was doubtful that many remembered his existence.

It was a full six years later that Snape finally caught a glimpse of the elder Potter. Dumbledore had dragged him along to the red haired brat's birthday party, spouting off some nonsense about 'putting differences aside.' As if Potter could ever act in a civil manner.

And so he found himself standing in a shadowy corner of the Potter house lip curled in disgust as the younger Potter unwrapped his ridiculously large pile of presents. It was at that moment that his attention wandered. Just for a second he saw a small dark haired boy peering around the doorway into the living room. As if the boy knew he'd been spotted he was gone.

Curiosity got the best of him and Snape strode over to where the boy had vanished.

'Severus?'

Snape whirled sharply on his heels, coming face to face with Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore had a ridiculous grin on his face as he approached, eyes twinkling madly.

'Marvelous, simply marvelous.'

Snape didn't bother to ask what was 'marvelous.' Such questions usually delved into a realm Snape didn't want to think about, let alone enter. Instead Snape stared unblinkingly back at Albus, trying to express his entire disinterest and boredom at the entire event. If Dumbledore noticed any of it, it didn't show on his face. Quite the opposite. His grin widened considerably as he drew to a halt in front of Snape, muttering under his breath. Snape caught words such as 'marvelous,' and 'outstanding.' Snape tried to resist the urge to puke.

'What is it Albus?' Snape said, holding back a sigh of frustration.

Albus beamed. 'Nothing, nothing …' He trailed off, looking back over his shoulder at the party Snape had been studiously ignoring. 'Wonderful isn't he,' Dumbledore said fondly as he watched Jeremy Potter rip into yet another gift.

'Wonderful,' was definitely not the word Snape would use. 'Obnoxious little brat.' Now that phrase could be applied almost indefinitely. Snape could almost taste the torture teaching potions to the boy would be.

Albus ignored Snape's distaste, or perhaps he didn't see it, as Jeremy chose that moment to drop the crystal snow globe Albus himself had gifted him. The perfect miniature representation of Hogwarts, topped with a fine layer of conjured snow, shattered, and disappeared into smoke as whatever magic that had held it together dispelled. The crystal itself broke into shards, which spread across the crimson-carpeted floor.

There was a moments silence, in which even Albus' eyes widened, then Lily Potter descended on the scene. Wrapping Jeremy into her arms and spiriting up and away from the sharp edged crystals.

James Potter came next, wand already drawn, an easy grin forming on his features.

'Not to worry,' he said, and swept his wand with a flourish. The crystal rose from within the carpet and hung in the air. It caught the light and sparkled a strange blue before, with another exaggerated flourish of his wand, Potter vanished it.

Albus applauded. 'Oh, bravo. Bravo.'

Snape looked on stonily as other partygoers clapped Potter on the back, and congratulated him on a crisis averted. As if they could not have done it themselves. Really, a simple targeted vanishing charm. It was hardly dragon breeding.

There was one benefit to the situation. Albus' attention was now suitably diverted and now was as good a time as any to make his escape.

But that black haired boy. Snape was a Slytherin, and as such knew the value of patience. It was tempting though, now, while everyone was distracted. It would be easy. _To get in,_ he reminded himself. Getting out would be tricky. Not impossible, but no, the risk was too great. And he was a Slytherin.

Snape's home was not, as he had led Dumbledore and any who asked him to believe, the hovel his parents had left him on Spinners End. It was not, in fact, in England at all.

The Paris magical district lay halfway down an unnamed cobbled street, and through a faded green painted archway. The district was long and narrow, curving out of sight, and lined with tall terraces, too tall to be anything but unnatural workmanship. Along the ground level the terraces had been converted into shops, and it was into one of these Snape now stepped.

A small silver bell above the door jingled merrily as he entered, drawing the attention of a very old looking gentlemen who sat behind a gnarled wooden workbench that spanned the length of one side of the room. The man smiled as he saw Snape, a wrinkled quivering smile that made his face appear scrunched and twisted.

'Good evening Baron,' Snape said, removing his cloak and hanging it on the coat rack by the door, which leant expectantly forward. As soon as Snape's coat was safely within its grasp it snapped back, and straightened with an air of unmistakable self-importance. The shop was filled with such items. Bookcases, chairs, hat stands, cabinets and a magnificent wardrobe, carved from a solid block of mahogany and patterned along the edges with odd swirling engravings. The whole place seemed alive. And like the coat rack all the objects seemed to hold some sort of sentience. Baron had said that it came from working in an area swimming in magic. But Snape wasn't so sure. He hadn't seen anything like it anywhere else. And it was only here, in Baron's dimly lit cramped shop that the furniture seemed alive.

'Good evening, Severus,' Baron nodded. 'I hope Dumbledore wasn't too difficult.'

Snape sighed. Shook his head, and massaged the bridge of his hooked nose. 'No, Baron. Merely infuriating. I fear what Jeremy will have to do to convince the fool that letting a child grow up with this kind of attention isn't healthy. By the time he reaches eleven he'll be worse than Potter was at his age.

Baron looked sympathetic. 'Now, now, Severus. Surely it can't be that bad. He's only seven after all.'

Snape sank into a leather armchair opposite Baron, not surprised when it moved to accommodate him more comfortably. 'We can only hope. But the signs do not look good.'

They fell into a companionable silence, and Baron bent over his workbench, fiddling with whatever new piece he had decided to work on. Snape didn't try to peek. He knew, after several years of effort, that Baron was remarkably adept at keeping hidden things he didn't want anyone else to see.

He didn't know when he drifted off to sleep, but when he woke he was lying on the sofa of his apartment. A fire burnt amber in the grate, and shadows moved across the room, long and spindly, like grass swaying in the wind.


End file.
